


5 Times Zell Noticed How Tall Raijin Is + 1 Time He got Even

by ChibisUnleashed



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Bad Jokes, Distance, Fluff, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Getting Together, Humor, M/M, Sweetness, The Successor Challenge, They're just so cute I can't handle it and I'm the one who wrote it, occasionally a good joke, with just a dash of plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:49:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25833055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibisUnleashed/pseuds/ChibisUnleashed
Summary: Raijin's hard not to notice. Everything about him is very noticeable.Zell noticed. Again and again and again...
Relationships: Zell Dincht/Raijin
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8
Collections: Island Closest to Hell





	5 Times Zell Noticed How Tall Raijin Is + 1 Time He got Even

**Author's Note:**

> This was created for The Successor Challenge 2020 for the theme Distance! Thanks to the host for putting this together for us! <3

Training to become a SeeD was equal parts terrifying and exciting, but Zell still thought joining Balamb Garden was the coolest thing he ever did. Everything was awesome here, from the classes to the training center to the weapons to…

Zell paused in his drill to stare as a boy who  _ had  _ to be a year or two ahead of him walked right by in the gym. He was so  _ tall.  _ If he wasn’t so thin, Zell would think he was already SeeD. 

Slowly, Zell picked up his drill again, but he pivoted around the bag so he could keep the other boy in his peripherals while he did. What was he going to do? Work on some advanced techniques? Practice with some crazy dangerous weapon?

...The answer to both was no. He started up a basic exercise routine. The same routine Zell saw everybody do. The same routine Zell was put through twice a week in his health and fitness class. He wasn’t sure if that was disappointing or humbling or still really cool. Everything about Balamb Garden still seemed really cool, and Zell wasn’t over it.

Well, if a guy like him was doing the same stuff Zell was, then that meant there was nothing between Zell and being just as awesome, right? All he had to do was keep training, and he’d be tall and strong like that in no time!

-

Now, Zell had made his peace with never actually getting that tall. There was hope and then there was foolish hope. When even  _ Squall,  _ who got teased all the time for being short by Seifer and his gang, was taller than you, it was time to accept your fate and deal with the cards in your hand.

And then there were days like today. Zell stared morosely at the top shelf of books in the library. Who had decided Classical Chokes belonged all the way up there? Zell wasn’t too short to reach the top shelf, but someone had pushed literally  _ all  _ of the books on chokes up against the wall putting them too far back from the edge for Zell to get his fingers around the spines. 

He could  _ climb  _ the shelf and reach them. He knew this because that was his usual go-to, but the last time he’d done that, the shelf had tipped. Somewhere along the line, all that muscle-building and hot dog-eating had made him heavy or something and now the librarian hated him and also watched him very closely when he was in here.

Which meant he really  _ couldn’t  _ climb the shelf and reach them. 

Zell was two seconds away from going on a hunt for one of those odd circular library step-stools when a large hand entered his line of sight and hovered over the books he wanted. 

“It’s alright, little man. I got you, ya know? Which one do you want?”

Hyne, Raijin was tall. 

He didn't even have to stretch to reach them. The books could have been glued to the  _ ceiling  _ and Raijin wouldn't have struggled to get them down. And his  _ hands.  _ If Zell asked for  _ all  _ of the books, Raijin could probably bring them down in one trip.

That might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but Zell honestly wasn't sure. 

He had taken long enough to reply that Raijin had started pulling the whole section forward from the wall while he waited. Which really let Zell know how long he'd been staring, and that was embarrassing as all hell, but it was hard to be embarrassed when Raijin was being so nice about it. 

If Seifer had been around, Zell was sure he'd be insulted right now, but it was just Raijin, and Raijin had patience to spare and kindness in groves. How the hell did a guy like that even put up with Seifer, anyway?

"Well? I gotta class to get to, ya know?"

Zell could have punched himself. 

And even though Raijin had put all the books close enough that Zell could reach them on his own now, he still hurried to list off the titles so Raijin could fetch them down for him. 

He did it with such a big, warm grin that Zell found himself smiling back helplessly, even as his arms got heavier and heavier under the weight of the books. What was it about Raijin that just made you like him? Was there anything  _ not  _ to like? 

Maybe his speech habits.

"Well, there ya go," Raijin said as he set the last title on top, "Don't be afraid to ask for help next time, ya know? I don't mind. Better'n tippin' all the shelves over like last time, ya know?"

It was a little much sometimes, but Zell just grinned. Who was he to judge? Zell had a laundry list of bad habits. 

"Thanks," Zell said, then waited a beat and teased, "You're awesome… ya know?"

Raijin laughed and stepped around him to leave the aisle. "Hey! Get your own catch-phrase! That one's mine, ya know?"

Zell watched him go, and didn't try to stop him. He was almost as tall as the shelves; it was crazy. And even though super height didn't come with super hearing and Raijin wouldn't be able to listen, Zell still replied out loud, "I know."

-

Zell bounced in place, unable to tame his eager and nervous energy. He escaped class as fast as he reasonably could, but you never knew. Cadets were hungry. The hot dogs…

They could be  _ gone.  _

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” Zell muttered to himself, craning his neck at the top of every bounce to see over the counter. 

A laugh to his right took his attention off the counter for the first time in several minutes. Raijin had mysteriously appeared behind him in line, and was gazing into the back of the kitchens, where Zell couldn’t see. 

“Relax, Chickee. There’s a whole bunch of hot dogs left, ya know? You can get as many as you like.”

There were days Zell might be willing to sell his left hand for the extra foot Raijin had on him in height.

"Really?" Zell asked, "There's enough for me to get four?" 

Raijin grinned at him. "There's enough for you to get eight, ya know?"

Zell punched the air and cheered loud enough to earn dirty looks from the nearest, and farest, cadets, but Raijin only laughed at him again. Funny how Raijin's laugh didn't feel mean when Seifer and Fujin weren't laughing with him. 

"Don't know where you put them all, little guy like you," Raijin said, "You eat more than I do, ya know?"

The comment about his height might have been insulting from literally anyone else, but Raijin kind of had the right to call anyone little next to himself. Zell smirked and assumed his boxing stance, punching the air with purpose this time. "Turns right into energy. Takes a lot to keep me moving as fast as I do."

Raijin snickered and nudged Zell forward as the line moved. "I don't think fast has anything to do with it, ya know? I think it's that you don't  _ stop."  _

Zell shrugged and grabbed his lunch tray before it was lost behind them in line. "Same difference."

"You're crazy," Raijin said with a shake of his head, "I get tired just watching you, ya know?"

Zell stopped short and spun around to look up at the (much) taller man. "You watch me?"

Raijin gave him an odd look, but didn't urge him to fill the small gap ahead of them in line this time. "Doesn't everyone? You're hard to ignore, ya know? Very loud, very… active."

Zell would examine how carefully Raijin had picked that last word later. Right now, he was a little disappointed that Raijin was just commenting on Zell's hyperactivity, like everyone else always did. 

"Yeah, I guess they do." 

-

The soft spots were all the same, but aiming to hit them took a little more thought on a guy as tall as Raijin. 

Uppercuts were out of the question. All of Zell’s powerline was lost if he extended that far. Besides, punching him in the gut was practically a chin swipe on anyone else, anyway. 

Zell focused on keeping his fists loose, his joints bent, his weight over his feet. He tried not to think about how hard he was hitting someone he kind of considered a friend.

He was only even fighting now so that Fujin wasn’t alone, and it was really hard to stay mad at someone like that. If Zell hadn’t been training for the past several years to ignore wayward thoughts and keep his head in the game, he’d be lost right now. 

He was lost, regardless. This whole situation was crazy. They all knew it. What was Seifer even doing? And why were Raijin and Fujin letting him get away with it? 

Zell shoved his hands inside Raijin’s vest and backed away with whatever he could grip. He’d never really considered what it would be like to go through Raijin’s pockets, but if he could have guessed, this wasn’t how he’d expected to find out. Maybe sneak a Triple Triad card or two from his wallet for a laugh. Maybe bump his hip and slip his folded phone number in when he wasn’t looking.

Not that he really needed to. Everyone in Balamb knew the Dincht home line.

In comparison to the utter beatdown that Zell was delivering, Raijin’s stab with his staff almost looked gentle. If this was a spar, Zell would tell him to hit harder. 

This was battle. Raijin’s mistake was their advantage. 

Raijin’s mistake was to follow Seifer. 

Zell wanted to be angry about it. He wanted to scream, and he did. Why don’t they tell Seifer to stop this nonsense? Zell was always quick to tell Squall when he thought  _ their  _ leader didn’t have his priorities straight.

Zell didn’t think Raijin had  _ his  _ priorities straight. Why was he so loyal to Seifer, when he could have been this loyal to  _ them?  _

To  _ him? _

-

Zell stretched out in the grass that was just a  _ little  _ too sandy to qualify as lush and reflected on how nice it was that with everything that had changed, Balamb’s sun was still as warm as it had always been. 

“Hey, Zell,” Selphie’s chipper tone broke his tranquility. That was fine, quiet was for other people. “Hotdog.”

He sat up in an instant. “Don’t have to ask me twice!”

She barked a laugh that was too cute to be a snort, but just as wry. “I didn’t ask once.”

“Hey, guys.” A shadow fell across the pair, making it hard to see who was speaking. But they knew that voice anyway. Quistis held a bundle of cloth in her arms and gestured toward them with it hopefully. “Did you want a blanket to sit on? Balamb sand likes to get everywhere.”

“Yes, please!” Selphie grabbed a corner and bounced to the far side of Zell’s resting spot, where she and Quistis lowered it to the grass. Zell’s mouth was too full to tell them he didn’t need it, but whatever. He could stay where he was and the company was nice. 

Somehow a second hotdog made it into his hands before he was even done with the first, and Irvine swept by to make sure they had a round of juice and soda. Rinoa was busy by the shore teaching Squall how to build a sand castle, which was hilarious because everybody else in the gang knew Squall was already a master at it, but it made her happy and it’s not like they had anything more important to talk about now that the world was saved.

_ “Hmmm.”  _

Zell turned to find Selphie staring pointedly at Squall’s lower half. He was almost afraid to ask, but Zell kind of made it a point not to let fear stop him from doing things. Even stupid things. “What are you thinking?”

“Do you think the sand is taking it as a personal challenge to get between Squall’s skin and his leather pants?”

Quistis released her straw to laugh. It sounded a little like a scoff. “I bet it’s already in there and he’s just too cool of a guy to admit how bad it itches.”

The thought of Squall’s inner monologue being nothing but, ‘Don’t scratch, don’t scratch, don’t scratch, don’t scratch,’ had Zell laughing too. It probably sounded a lot like Seifer’s  _ outer  _ monologue when he’d gotten sand in his boots, earlier.

Maybe with less violent cursing though.

All wasn’t really forgiven, but Fujin and Raijin went a long way toward smoothing everything out between everyone. They hadn’t betrayed them, in the end, and they had only gone as far as they had out of friendship and loyalty and the kind of love a bunch of orphans like them understood without having to be told. 

Besides, they all knew Seifer was a spotlight hog. It was just his luck that his fifteen minutes made him a war criminal. It was terrifically on par, for Seifer. 

He was such an ass.

And he had left about twenty minutes ago, muttering about sand and hot dogs and salt and probably fish and sorceresses and puberty, too. Just to keep on brand.

“We’re headin’ out, ya know?” Raijin said as he approached their blanket. Of course they were, they always followed Seifer, even when he was being ridiculous and ruining parties. Or not ruining parties by leaving early, or something. Whatever, Zell was bitter about it. 

“We know,” Quistis teased with an unbothered smile. “Have a great night and we’ll see you tomorrow.”

“You can’t leave without a goodbye hug!” Selphie rolled to her feet, and Zell followed barely a second later. Goodbye hugs were great (especially Squall’s, because you knew you were only getting away with it because he  _ actually  _ liked you), but mostly, if Selphie was going to hug Raijin then so was he. 

Raijin obligingly opened his arms, despite grumbling about it. “You’ve let us leave tons of times without hugs, ya know? But alright, because it’s you guys, ya know?”

In a surprise move, Selphie grabbed both of the men beside her and pulled them in, which made what might have been a brief goodbye into a very warm, very comforting group hug. Zell supposed if he had to be lumped in with anyone, Selphie was far from the worst he could do. Her hugs always let you know how much she cared, and her passions weren’t that far off from Zell’s own. It would have been  _ nice  _ to be singled out, but...

Zell wasn’t sure what  _ more  _ he could do but be himself.

“See ya tomorrow, Big Guy!” Zell said as he stepped out of the hug. If he’d stayed any longer, he might have rested his head on Raijin’s chest; it was the perfect height for it and hugs lured people into a false sense of security. “Rest up!”

Selphie fell back into step with him and saluted. It was utterly adorable. 

“Sure thing, Chickee,” Raijin said. He rubbed the back of his neck, and that was utterly adorable too. “You, too. Goodnight!”

They were quiet as he walked away. Suspiciously quiet just long enough for Raijin to leave earshot, and then Selphie whistled. "That is a whole lotta man."

She sounded impressed, which made sense because Zell was impressed. Zell always  _ had  _ been impressed by Raijin’s size. "I know." 

Which begged the question, what was he going to  _ do  _ about it? Before, in Garden, sure, there might have been some hostility and an awkward barrier what with Raijin’s best friend being Zell’s biggest bully and okay, he’d been, like, twelve and didn’t really know what to do with himself. 

He wasn’t twelve anymore and he sorta knew what to do with himself. The war swept their safety nets right out from under them, and nothing had hurt more than the number of friends turned enemy across the battlefield. Raijin among them. 

Zell knew what he wanted. Was he going to let fear keep him from going for it?

Hell no. Of course not. 

Zell dropped a heavy hand on Selphie’s slim shoulder to get her attention. “Hey, Selphie?” He swallowed thickly. “Don’t wait up.” 

Then he was running. It occurred to him that he hadn’t taken his eyes off of Raijin even once since he’d walked away, and Selphie probably knew what he was going to do before he’d done it. 

Oh well. Zell never claimed to be subtle. 

At least Raijin seemed surprised when Zell finally caught up with his stride. "Raijin! Wait!"

Raijin stopped and turned to meet Zell with all of his attention. "What's up, ya know?"

Solid question. Zell wasn't sure how to answer that. Normally he’d just come out and say it, but this was maybe something he didn’t want the  _ entire  _ gang overhearing, and Zell’s volume was permanently stuck on ‘blaring.’ In the end, he awkwardly went with: 

"Uh, hi."

"Hello?” Hyne, Raijin sounded so confused. Excited would have been a more promising tone, but with the way his eyes shifted to glance at Fujin leaving him behind, Zell kinda got it. “I, uh, have somewhere to be, ya know?"

"Wait!” Before he even had a chance to keep walking, Zell reached out to stop him with a hand on his bicep. Which. "Holy shit." They were  _ huge.  _

Raijin laughed, and it instantly relaxed his whole body. "Yeah. Aren't they huge?” Zell’s thoughts exactly. “That's why I wear vests, ya know? Sleeves never fit right." He flexed his arm a bit to demonstrate the ‘problem.’

Zell was having a whole different kind of problem.

"Mercy."

"What?"

"Do you, uh," Zell tried to recover his wits, hoping without much hope that he hadn’t completely freaked Raijin out already, but putting words together in a sentence was unfairly difficult when Raijin was  _ flexing  _ for him.  _ Mercy.  _

Zell dropped his hand from the sinful temptation and let it fall down into Raijin’s much larger grip where he hoped it might be less distracting. Vain hope. Raijin could probably grip Zell's entire ass with that one hand, and that was the thought he was fighting off when he finished, "wanna grab a dinner sometime?"

Zell could  _ hear  _ the man’s laughter in his voice when he repeated, "Grab a dinner?"

Zell was fucking this up. "Drink! Drink a grab! Wait-"

Raijin put him out of his misery with one word. 

"Sure."

"What?"

Raijin shrugged. "I'll go out with you."

Zell was halfway to a victory fistpump before he stopped, suddenly hesitant. He needed to make sure they were on the same page, here. "I mean like a date."

Raijin nodded, clearly unbothered, but suddenly shy. His free hand was back up behind his neck. "So do I, ya know?"

There was no reigning in Zell’s volume now. "YES!" He cried, happily proceeding with his celebratory fistpump. He looked up at Raijin with what he knew to be a stupid big grin on his face. "You've got my number, right? You're from Balamb. Everyone in Balamb knows the Dincht homeline,” He reasoned, “So just… Call me. Tonight."

"I will, ya know?” Raijin assured, and his smile was just as big, just as goofy. It warmed Zell’s heart. “But for now,” he continued, “I really gotta go."

"Right, of course. Yeah." Because he’d been leaving when Zell stopped him, right. After five seconds of heady excitement, Zell suddenly had no idea what to do with himself. He wanted to cheer some more, maybe run some laps, go fight some monsters, anything but behave like a mature human being, really. He started to move away, let Raijin go, but that didn’t quite feel right, so he stopped. "Wait."

"Yeah?" Poor Raijin looked like he would wait forever if Zell asked him to, but also like he really hoped that’s not what Zell asked. 

No worries, Zell would make this quick. Without giving himself any time to second-guess, he placed a solid foot on Raijin’s firm thigh and a hand around Raijin’s thick neck and closed the distance between them by climbing this mountain of a man and planting a determined kiss on those steady lips. 

A heavy arm settled around his back at the same time Zell wrapped a leg around Raijin’s waist and it only took about ten seconds for Raijin to make it  _ very  _ clear that if waiting for Zell was going to be like  _ this,  _ his friends could just go on without him. 

Zell pulled back only when he realized he was well on his way to indecency, and there was nowhere to hide on the beach. Potential embarrassment aside, "That felt  _ awesome." _

Raijin’s lips were wet and his eyes were wide and there was barely any space between them and he was  _ beautiful.  _ Even if all he said was: "Ya know?"

Zell knew what he signed up for. "I've been wanting to do that for a while."

"I want to do that again,” Raijin teased, and Zell melted. “But I really have to go, ya know?” He shrugged uncertainly and gestured with a nod toward the posse who was impatiently waiting for him, “Seifer and Fujin…"

"Right right." As much fun as this was, Zell was technically derailing two sets of plans, here. He hopped down from Raijin’s arms and tried to keep his mourning inside. "Call me,” he demanded instead, “Tonight."

Raijin stepped in the direction of his friends, but he hadn’t turned away, yet. "I promise, ya know?"

Zell grinned. "I know."

-

“‘Sup, Chickenwuss?”

Zell rolled his eyes and ducked the hand Seifer aimed for his hair. Seifer was just being an ass on purpose now. Like he thought the world might stop turning if he didn’t insult Zell on sight. 

“Same as usual, Loser. Banging your best friend and loving it.”

Zell winked cheekily and backed away very quickly. But it wasn’t Seifer he was running from as much as Fujin. Zell had learned very quickly that her kicks aimed to hurt and he couldn’t tell ahead of time what would make her lash out or not. Raijin was her best friend, too, after all.

“Zell!” Raijin said, bashful hand in place behind his neck. He was blushing, and Zell made sure to wink at him, too. 

“Ugh,” Seifer groaned. He shook his head and glared, surprise surprise, not at Zell. “Raijin, this is the most questionable decision you’ve made since picking your weapon. I’m trying not to hate you for it, but I can’t make any promises if he’s gonna taunt me about it.”

Raijin shrugged with his whole body, arms out and everything, and opened his mouth to reply when Fujin got there first. 

“WEAK!” She cried, and knocked Seifer’s ankle with the rubber edge of her boot. Seifer sucked in a breath and pulled his foot away, glaring at his  _ other  _ best friend now. 

“What do you mean, ‘weak’?”

“I mean you’re being pathetic,” she said in the normal tones that Zell was slowly getting more and more used to. “You don’t have to be an ass just because Raijin’s getting more than you.”

Seifer looked honestly offended. “Hey, now! This has nothing to do with Raijin’s success and satisfaction,” at this point Raijin’s face was as red as Zell had ever seen it and he couldn’t look anyone in the eyes, even Zell, “This is about choosing the  _ chickenwuss  _ to bump uglies with. Just about the lowest bar he could have picked.”

“Hey, now, ya know?!” 

As precious as Raijin jumping to his defense was, Zell didn’t need it. He shrugged lazily and grinned, leaning back against the apartment wall without a care in the world. “It’s alright, Big Guy. I’ve literally beaten every single one of you in a fight. If Seifer has to say mean things to feel better about it, I’ll let him.”

Seifer almost knocked over an end table when he shot toward Zell, then immediately thought better of it and stepped back again. He was trying, Zell would give him credit. But only  _ so much  _ credit. "I’ll have you know those fights were three-on-one! A half-blind peacock could win with those odds.” He spun to look at Raijin. “Are you gonna let him talk to you like that?"

But all Raijin did was shrug. "It's hot."

And Zell had barely processed how warm and oddly proud that made him feel when Fujin yelled from his other side.

"TRUE." 

All those years at Garden, thinking Seifer made all the decisions, leading Fujin and Raijin around every day. Zell snickered to himself. How  _ wrong  _ he’d been. 

Seifer looked like he was ready to argue or vomit or both, so Zell cut in. "Didn't you guys have somewhere to be?" The posse shared an apartment, and they were all welcome to invite friends over, but Raijin understandably aimed for nights when Fujin and Seifer had other things to do to bring Zell over. 

"If I didn't before, I do now." Seifer said. It was as close to capitulation as he ever got, but it was still lightyears ahead of how he was before the war. He grabbed his coat and keys and stormed out. Or swirled out. Some artistic combination of the two that only Seifer could pull off. 

Fujin took it in stride, like she always did. She nodded at Raijin, meeting his eyes and communicating silently in a way that was half-magic, half-mystery to Zell, then grabbed her wallet and followed her friend out the door. “BYE.”

Zell hadn’t meant to  _ chase  _ them out. 

But when the result was Raijin leaving his chair to come up beside him and lean in close? Zell couldn’t complain. 

He turned to meet him, Raijin’s nearness warm and inviting. He was shy, too shy to be as blatantly affectionate with Zell in front of his friends as he was when they were alone. In the beginning, Zell thought it was an approval thing, that Seifer and Fujin wouldn’t like it, so Raijin didn’t do it.

Now, he was pretty sure it was all Raijin. Seifer might talk, but Seifer never  _ stopped,  _ and Fujin had been nothing but supportive. If Raijin wanted Zell to sit in his lap throughout dinner with his friends, Zell was almost confident that neither one of them would actually care. 

Raijin was just shy.

“Your friends are pretty great.”

The smile Raijin gave him was all the balm Zell’s sensibilities needed for admitting out loud that Seifer wasn’t half-bad. “Thank you.” Raijin waited a beat, and then his smile turned teasing. “Your friends saved the world.”

Zell laughed. “We did, didn’t we?”

Raijin nodded, that same big, exaggerated nod he somehow managed to time perfectly with Fujin when they were in the same room. “Kind of hard to live up to, ya know?”

“I do know!” Zell said. “When ‘Saved the world’ is on your resume, it sort of over-qualifies you for every job on the market. What do I do now? Flip burgers?”

Raijin tilted his head to the side, and the smirk that pulled at his lips looked so much like Seifer’s that for a second, Zell was worried.

“Grill hot dogs.”

Zell gasped and fought to keep the smile off of his face as he stared up at Raijin in mock outrage. “Are you making fun of me?” 

“Maybe.”

“I’m stronger than you, you know!”

Raijin’s grin was wide and shameless. 

“I know.”

“I’m serious,” Zell said, even though he was pretty sure Raijin was, too. Still, “You’ve fought me before. Just because you’re big doesn’t mean I can’t bring you down to my size.”

With a sly look, Raijin slid his hand into Zell’s, turning their palms to make the difference clear. “You don’t want me to be your size.”

Zell saw, and  _ felt,  _ exactly what Raijin wanted him to, and he swallowed. Maybe size had been the wrong word. 

The apartment’s one large couch was conveniently just behind Raijin, and Zell acted before Raijin could figure out what he was going to do and maybe try to stop him.

In a competition of body weight, Zell was not going to win, but he threw all of his against Raijin’s chest anyway and hooked the back of his ankle against Raijin’s and pulled, tearing his stability right out from under him. 

Betrayal flashed in Raijin’s eyes in the brief moment between beginning to fall and when the backs of his knees hit the arm of the couch and he landed on the soft cushions, albeit fairly gracelessly. Zell vaulted over couch arm and bent knees both to land on Raijin’s chest and straddle his waist. 

Zell’s hands were pressed to Raijin’s shoulders in a mockery of a pin. In all actuality, there wasn’t a single limb Raijin couldn’t move if he wanted to, but it  _ looked  _ good for when Zell grinned down at him and said, “Now you’re on my  _ level.”  _

Of all possible reactions, Zell did not expect Raijin to  _ snort.  _ “That’s a terrible joke, ya know?”

“Shut up. You’re the one who got literal.”

“I am.” Raijin admitted his guilt, but his hands had found their way to Zell’s sides and were tracing back and forth along his waistband so he was pretty sure it was more of a distraction than an admission at all. 

Which, Zell was plenty willing to be distracted, so it’s not like it mattered. 

He pressed himself down, stretching out on Raijin's chest to feel as much of their bodies against each other as he could, and set his fingers to the task of running over Raijin's hair, trying to hit all the sensitive lines he knew Raijin liked. "So it's your fault if I'm making bad jokes."

Raijin slowly closed his eyes, clearly enjoying himself, and left his hands to the task of massaging Zell's back. "I think that's just something you do, ya know?"

Zell could not believe his cheek. Here he was, making the man feel good, and he insults him. Zell splayed a hand on the side of Raijin's face and turned it toward him so he could shut him up with a kiss. "Shut up." And some muffled words. "...I do not."

Raijin just laughed against his lips and grabbed his ass, the whole thing in one hand of course, which made Zell moan appreciatively. 

"...Apology accepted."


End file.
